The First Snowfall of 2011

Technically my title is completely incorrect!  We did have snow in January and February but this is the first snowfall of the coming winter season.  And technically this isn't even officially winter yet.  I'm just breaking all the rules for this post! I'm going wild!

Anyway...yesterday we had a light snowfall.  It was the kind of snow that was so wet that when contact was made with the ground it quickly melted into regular old H₂0.  What snow coverage we had on the grassy areas didn't last long as the air temps were too warm to maintain the frozen precipitation.  Despite its brevity the snow was pretty!

Snow on pot of pak choy.

Snow on deck.

Snow on chives and blue fescue pot.

Snow on pyracantha branch. Almost looks like ice.

The backyard with snow.

The Blue Garden Shed with snow!

Grassy area shielded from snow by a butterfly bush.

I suspect we'll have more snow this year than in previous years.  I've heard our winter I supposed to be wetter!  Good thing I bought sleds!

Have you had your first snowfall yet?

Around the Garden in October

It's been while since I showed larger scale pictures of the garden.  Mostly because it was such a mess over the summer. Today I'll share a few photos of the various garden areas.  The resiliency of plants is simply amazing. With neglect, wet weather, dry weather, hot weather, and lack of time my plants seem to be doing fine!

The Front Garden Walkway

Right now in the front garden along the sidewalk you will see mums becoming the center of attention. The red mums to the right have been in the ground for several years and have gotten quite large.  I didn't cut them back even once this year and their timing seems to be just perfect.  The mums on the left side of the sidewalk are the 'Clara Curtis' mums I mentioned in an earlier post. The 'Autumn Joy' sedum is going to seed while the gaillardia is still producing blooms.

 

The Surprise Garden!

In Saturday's post I told you about my surprise garden.  Essentially the spring garden cleanup resulted in the germination of the seed the spring garden produced.  It' snot a bad problem to have but it does make mowing around it a little difficult. Cilantro, arugula and lettuce can all be found in this garden patch.

The Herb Garden

My herb garden is located just off one side of our patio.  Oregano stretches itself onto the edge of the patio but you will also find lemon balm, stevia, and catmint here.  On the opposite side is thyme, lemon basil, and one of my favorites, sage.

The Birdbath Garden

It's still without a birdbath at the moment but the birdbath garden is putting on a good show. The 'Sheffield Pink' mums are in front of this picture with salvia, red twig dogwood, catmint, and a butterfly bush all nearby. 

The Lawn Garden

OK it's not really a garden but it is a part of the gardens.  It connects them all together through a sea of green and is a void of space that allows the gardens to stand out. The trees in the back are well on their way to fall color.  The lawn looks pretty good now that some of the oversown seed has emerged.  It's not perfect but I'm not looking for the perfect lawn, just one that does what I need and provide a great place for the kids to play!  I don't use pesticides or herbicides on the lawn.

The Shed

Back by the shed the gardens have filled in fairly thick.  It's time to move a few plants to other locations.  I'm looking forward to seeing the two crape myrtles on either side of the pathway grow into larger trees to flank the path.  Also flanking the pathway are two 'Shenandoah' switchgrasses.  The one on the right is significantly larger even though both were planted at the same time and were in the same size pot.  The difference is the light.  The one on the right gets a couple more hours of sunlight than the other.  A few hours makes a huge difference.  I was trying to be symmetrical but one of the problems with symmetry is that it can be hard to get both specimens to match for a variety of reasons. In this case they grew at different rates.

The Trees

The trees are well on their way to being naked.  While the cooler weather will be welcome for a little while I'm going to miss the growing season.  Spring will come along eventually and we'll get the opportunity to try new things in the garden.  For now though we'll just have to live in the moment and enjoy the colors as they turn.

Join the 2011 Fall Color Project and share the brilliance of Autumn!

Making Plant Benches for the Shed

I'm another step closer to actually using the greenhouse garden shed I built. I actually have the structure up for my big plant bench. I just need to do a few more finishing touches! I'm thinking of painting it white eventually to add some light reflection but that will most likely have to wait until spring.

Completely Random Garden Photos

There's no rhyme or reason to the pictures in this post. It's all random and just for fun! Or does saying that give it a theme or a reason? Hmm....

Verbena bonairensis beginning the process of reseeding in the self-sowing garden.

Celosia in the reseeding garden!

The front garden on October. I've noticed that this year there is a definite red colors tint in the front garden. Red mums, red Salvia splendens, red on the Gaillardia (pictured below). The purple basils also help to add a bit of color here.

Gaillardia

Purple petunias! Sometimes you can find good things on the discount rack!

And the blue garden shed! I think the color is growing on me.

I have lots more painting to do including the doors, window trim, and soffits but two big days of painting got me this far. It is definitely a major change!

Don't forget the fall color project! Click on the picture below for details!

The Garden Shed - With Paint!

Well I finally got the painting started! You can take a peek over at the garden shed page - I must warn you though - the color change is starling! At least to me. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it so if you have any constructive thoughts you might lend me please comment!

Of course if you think it's just grand, you can tell me that too! ;)

Garden Shed, Drainage Pathway and Loads of Dirt

This past weekend was fantastic. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for getting outdoors and getting things done. I was looking forward to Saturday and the perfect weather a week in advance and knew exactly what I was going to tackle. My plan: to work around the garden shed! I managed to accomplish one major task that needed done - dig out and grade the pathway next to the shed so that the rainwater would not flood inside the shed.

Back in the spring we had more rain than I have ever seen in a two day period of time. Some areas of Tennessee received 18 inches or more while we got about 12-14 inches. That amount of water was a problem for my garden shed (click on the link for video). The rain flooded the backyard and ended up going through the floor of the garden shed and flowing out the other side. My shed has a gravel and brick floor that will allow spilled moisture to leave - I didn't expect that moisture to pass through it!

My Saturday project began on the left side of the shed. If you look at the picture below and follow the brown dirt you will see the project area. I used a tiller to break up the soil then removed and graded the area to direct water past the shed. 

After grading the area significantly I installed some 4"x6" landscape timbers that would serve as a barrier for water. The idea is to defect the water as it flows away from the shed and down the pathway. If you notice on the right side of the picture the landscape timber is almost even with the grass.

When you look at the end of the timber section the barrier is almost 6 inches above the grade. Hopefully that will be enough to defect any future water to the drainage areas in the back of the yard.

Here's another look from the end of the pathway. The dirt will be reseeded very soon with grass for easy maintenance. Inside the landscape timbers will be a combination of a small patio area and a mulched bed for hydrangeas. I'm waiting on painting the shed before installing the hydrangea bed.

I can't wait to get the shed painted. As soon as the weather cools off painting will be the next chore to tackle!

A Paving Stone Pathway with Dwarf Liriope

The past weekend I set out to complete small project with a little help from my gardening assistant. The goal was to put together a small pathway made from cheap concrete stepping stones that would lead up to the front porch area of my garden shed. Prior to this the area was weedy. So weedy that regular mowings were necessary to be able to walk through the area.  It was inconvenient to say the least and just looked bad.

I began the project the other day by clearing the area of any and all weeds. It was mostly crabgrass which despite its annoyingly aggressive spreading nature is very easy to pull up. Once the area was cleared it was leveled.  A slight slope away from the shed was left so that any accumulating water would flow away from the building.

Then newspaper was laid underneath as a weed barrier and the 12"x12" concrete paving stones were placed in a simple grid pattern. I tried several other configurations that were more complicated but in the end I decided that simple was the best.  (It would have been better to map it all out beforehand because moving stones around repeatedly just really isn't all that fun!)  The next step was planting the spaces with a good ground cover that could handle a little foot traffic when needed. The groundcover I selected was dwarf liriope.  Liriope really is a great plant when used properly!  The stepping stones are spaced somewhere around 2 inches apart which leaves just enough space to plant small divided sprigs of liriope. My daughter and I planted one plant on each corner and one at the center point of each side of the stepping stones.  The lriope will spread and fill in the gaps fairly quickly.  This only took 4 small pots of liriope to complete, the other 6 will be used to fill in some of the larger spaces toward the edges.  Those first four pots were divided into about 40 smaller plants!  Not a bad bargain for $2 a pot.  Eventually the groundcover will block out any weeds that may be tempted to grow here.

All told this little project cost $14 for the stepping stones and $8 for the plants for a grand total of $22.  Not bad at all for this cheap gardener!

Garden Shed in the Morning (Photo)

Here's a quick look at my garden shed in the morning while a thin layer of fog was resting over the backyard. Two crape myrtles are planted on either side of the pathway but only one has bloomed - maybe next year the crape myrtles will achieve the effect I was hoping for.

More on the Brick Floor! (A Garden Shed Update)

For those of you who are interested in the status of my garden shed I posted a little more on the floor. I'm out of bricks and didn't quite get the whole area covered but I'm happy with the progress for now.  Let me know what you think!

Yesterday I was Floored

Or rather my garden shed was! I laid down part of the brick flooring that will eventually cover the entire shed floor. You can take a good look at the floor at the Garden Shed page!

Around the Garden Shed - the Rest of the Plantings!

Yesterday's post had many of the colorful plants I planted around the garden shed today's post may be less colorful but hopefully still interesting!

First let's start off with a small stepping stone pathway. I bought some cheap 12"x12" stepping stones to lay down for this little pathway. To the left of the pathway is an area that still needs developed. The area to the left and right once looked about the same - things have been improved!

We can't forget about the large plantings like the trees. This red maple will one day provide a good amount of shade all around the area. Red maples are great trees for fall color - like you would see in the Fall Color Project for 2010! (Just something to keep in your thoughts for later ;))

In front of the garden shed are zinnias complete with butterfly attachments.

Black and Blue Salvia is quickly becoming a staple in every garden. It's already bloomed here once and been deadheaded.  This plant was a division in the spring from another one near the birdbath garden.

This other little salvia was propagated from a cutting but the mother plant was seed grown last year.

The lamb's ear hasn't taken kindly to the intense heat and lack of rain this summer but should rebound nicely when the weather is more favorable. 

What garden is complete without a coneflower? Only a shade garden!

 This feathery leaved plant is a tansy found at a plant swap this spring.

Like everywhere else this garden is a work in progress. Since I can't paint the shed yet (it's way too hot) tinkering in the garden is a good way to spruce up the area before the shed is finished. Inside the shed there is still some work that needs done like the brick floor and the shelves but really 90-100 degree days aren't ideal for that either! Hopefully cooler weather will come along and give us a break after this weekend but I'm not counting chickens...

Plantings Around the Garden Shed

In my last post on the garden shed page I mentioned that I would show you in two parts the plantings. Well...I'm afraid I may have to expand that to three, we'll see! After taking some pictures today and on previous days I'm happily astounded by the neat stuff I'm seeing. Please don't take that as bragging since most of the cool stuff is a result of pure random luck that just fell into place and happened to improve my ideas. Let me show you what I'm talking about.

My original plan for this area had two ornamental grasses on both sides of the main pathway. I followed that plan by planting two Shenandoah switch grasses which are at their peak right now. The leaves turn a beautiful red color that extends down from the leaf tips. The happy accident here was when one of our extremely heavy winds knocked a sunflower down to the ground. I planted the sunflower from a seed but I really intended it to stand on its own as sunflowers do - the whole wind thing changed everything. The sunflower continued to live after the fall and since I didn't want to deprive the bees and the finches their favorite food I let the sunflower stay put. Here is how it appears now:

The fallen sunflower branched upward and created a bushy sunflower peeking above the switchgrass.

This photo is a little closer and you can take a look at the foliage of the switchgrass. Switchgrasses make great substitutes to miscanthus which can be invasive in some areas. Switchgrass is a native which are always great to add to the garden.

Just to the right of the switchgrass is a planting that uses Russian sage, rudbeckia, and Shasta daisy. The Shasta daisy was a trade brought home from a plant swap last year. It was one of those plants that I really didn't have the right spot for so I stuck it in this garden. In this instance I think I got lucky since it blends so well with the rudbeckias and the Russian sage behind them both. Next year this display should look fantastic as all three plants are in their second year in this spot. I've found that the third year is when to expect great things from perennials!

The rudbeckia and the daisies are almost inverses of each other. The yellow centers of the daisies blend nicely with the yellow petals of the rudbeckia.

 And one more gratuitous garden shot... you're not opposed to gratuitous gardening are you?

These small zinnias are a very cool find this year. They are called Persian carpet and even though they aren't carpeting the area it would look very awesome if they were. I only ordered one pack of seeds but you can count on the fact that I'll save the seeds from this group for next year. Each flower looks like a tiny little fire lighting up the garden.

And here's the last gratuitous gardening photo for this post: a Monarch butterfly on a cosmos flower. 

Stay tuned for the next post to see the rest of the plantings near the garden shed!